Sunday, October 18, 2009

"Art, this is Joe Collins with Data International. We'rethe most respected provider of data funneling (or somethinglike that--I had never heard the term before). We work with theIBM's, AT&T's ...,"

Huh?

The guy lost me already, but I let him go on for at least90 seconds, nonstop, with his droning. I was not a prospect,and even if I were, I wouldn't have been interested based onthis opening.

On the phone you have about 10 seconds or less tocapture a listener's attention, break theirpreoccupation with whatever they were doing whenyou called, and place them in a positive, receptiveframe of mind to share information with you and listenwith an open mind. Therefore, you don't want to muddyup your call with wasted words, or meaningless words.

It amazes me how sales reps (and many companies ingeneral) use "corporatespeak": slogans and overused,meaningless words to describe what they do. For example,

-"cost-effective," as in, "We provide cost-effectiveproducts."

-"leading," or "premier," as in, "We're the leading company in this field."

-"solution provider, as in, "We're a solution provider."

-"meet your needs, as in, "I'd like to discuss how we canmeet your needs."

"Ms. Prospect, Josh Verbose with E-Commerce Applications. We're the premier solution provider of cost-effective e-commercesystems. We help companies by facilitating their migration intoelectronic marketing by leveraging their options to meet theire-commerce needs."

Uh, ok.

Here are a couple of fundamental ideas to keep in mind beforeand during your calls.

-Know who you're talking to, both company and position-wise.The guy calling me was clearly not talking to a prospect. To avoid wastedtime, energy, and resistance he could have simply said to my marketingperson here,

"I want to be sure that what I have would be of some interest for yourcompany. Please tell me ...," followed by some qualifying questions.

-Use clear terminology to quickly create interest. Let me say this slowly:you have just several seconds to create interest at the beginning of a call.You do this by alluding to what you might be able to do for them, and thenasking a question.

So be simple with the hint of the result you could possibly provide. For example,

"Art, with other speakers, trainers, and authors, we've helped them take theirdatabase of existing customers and increase by two-to- three times their amount of repeat business . I'd like to ask a few questions to see if it would make sense for us to speak further."

Along the same lines, avoid stilted words when simpler ones will do.For example,

"use" instead of "utilize"

"talk" instead of "have a dialogue"

"help" instead of "facilitate"

Examine your own language, both in your openings, and in all parts of your call.Are you creating resistance instead of interest? If so, change it today.

I'll show you exactly how in my one-hour audio seminar on how to developinterest-creating openings, and I will personally review your opening/voicemail message and give suggestions for improvement. Check out the detailsat http://www.businessbyphone.com/teleseminar2.htm

Go and Have Your Best Week Ever!

Art

QUOTE OF THE WEEK"More people fail because of lack of purpose than do because of a lack of talent."Bill Sunday